“Yu Suzuki would also like to continue the story of Shenmue in anime or manga form,” he added later.

Shenmue 3 is one of the most well-roasted chestnuts in gaming’s history. Suzuki is asked about a sequel almost every time he’s interviewed or speaks with fans, and almost always gives some small snippet of information which fires hearts, minds and loins around the world.

Unfortunately, Sega has shown no interest in paying for the damn thing, so every resurrected hope has been dashed back down again by continued radio silence. This talk of crowdfunding is interesting, though.

1999’s Shenmue and its 2001 sequel pioneered a new kind of open-world gameplay which its creators hoped would allow players to do whatever they wanted; the concept lives on in a more streamlined form in stablemate Yakuza. While the game received strong critical receptions, they didn’t sell well and became almost instant cult classics.